City considers new water project

The City of Sundance is planning to pursue a new water project. Though the North Transmission Line has been sitting on the priority list for a while, the deteriorating condition of the current water line is becoming an ever-more-serious problem.

The project would involve replacing the water line that runs along 3rd Street from Cleveland Ave. to the park.

Clerk Treasurer Kathy Lenz explained there are two reasons to pursue this project right now. First, she said, there is a possibility the state will soon get rid of mineral royalty grants, so, “If we need this…we need to be working on it.”

Second, said Lenz, “This I think could be an emergency any day.” She and Public Works Director Mac Erickson described the line as very old and dilapidated and in constant need of repair.

One such repair was necessary last year and involved boring under the creek, which cost the city $18,000.

“This is a serious problem,” said Mayor Paul Brooks. “There are still multiple leaks in that line.”

Those leaks, he added, are costing the city due to the constant loss of water.

As the project involves a transmission main, Karla Greaser of Trihydro confirmed that it falls under the purview of the Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC). Applications for funding through this agency are due in September, said Greaser, and the funding would then need to be approved by the legislature within the omnibus water bill in spring, 2022.

Greaser estimated that the city will be looking at construction in the summer of 2023.

In terms of cost to the city, WWDC grants are 67/33 and Lenz felt that the city would be able to raise sufficient funding through the SPOT tax for this match and would not require a loan.

Greaser felt that the timing of this application is good due to the currently-in-progress project to replace the Sundance Kid tank, to which one end of the water line connects.

“This project plays into even some design on the Kid tank that we’re doing now,” she said, suggesting that the work being done now will be of use in engineering the water line project.

The council instructed Lenz to proceed with working on the grant.